Utah artist Roland Lee has been painting the canyons and deserts of southern Utah’s red rock country for over 30 years. His work is in over 1000 museum, corporate, and private collections including the Springville Museum of Art and Zion Naitonal Park. Roland Lee’s painting “Wild and Free” is featured in the new book “Painters of Utah’s Canyons and Deserts” by Donna L. Poulton of University of Utah’s Museum of Fine Arts and Vern G. Swanson of the Springville Museum of Art. His work is also featured in the book, “Century of Sanctuary, the Art of Zion National Park,” produced in celebration of the centennial of Zion National Park.

VIVIDLY ILLUSTRATED AND EXHAUSTIVELY RESEARCHED by Donna Poulton and Vern G. SwansonBook Review: Released to coincide with the centennial celebration of Zion National Park, “Painters of Utah’s Canyons and Deserts” traces the artistic history and visual drama of the wild places in Utah’s landscape. Lavishly illustrated with the paintings of prominent living and deceased artists, this book will strike a responsive chord with anyone whose heart is tied to the broiling blue skies and red rock mesas of Utah’s canyon country. Well-respected authors and art historians Donna Poulton and Vern Swanson have combined their substantial knowledge and expertise to create a book of both historic and visual significance. This richly illustrated art book contains a history of artists past and present who portray Utah’s landscape with paint and canvas, including artists from the past such as: Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, Samuel Coleman, Thomas Moran, Minerva B. K. Teichert, Maynard Dixon, LeConte Stewart, J. Roman Andrus, plus many of today’s landscape luminaries including Valoy Eaton, Kathryn Stats, Ed Mell, Clyde Aspevig, G. Russell Case, Roland Lee and others.

Donna L. Poulton is Associate Curator of Utah and Western Art at the University of Utah’s Museum of Fine Arts. She has written articles on Utah and Western art, and is the coauthor of Utah Art, Utah Artists. She lives in Salt Lake City.

Vern G. Swanson has been the director of the Springville, Utah, Museum of Art since 1980. He has published fourteen art history books as sole or joint author, five of these on Utah art, a major tome titled Dynasty of the Holy Grail, and Soviet Impressionist Painting. He lives in Springville, Utah.